Day: May 18, 2011

A New Target For The SEALS

I recently wrote a post on the possible new leaders of A-Qaeda and now there is an interim leader…

Al-Qaeda has yet to name a successor to Osama bin Laden, but CNN reports that a “caretaker” leader is in place. He is identified as Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian who has been in the group’s upper echelon for years. Even al-Qaeda has to worry about politics, apparently: Adel may simply be the equivalent of a test balloon to see how the group’s rank-and-file reacts to the idea of someone from Egypt—as opposed to the Arabian Peninsula—taking charge. If it goes well, it could pave the way for bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, also an Egyptian, to take permanent control.

Now we have a new target……let the SEALs know they are needed yet again…..it may be a mote point….why?  Most of the AQ members do NOT want an Egyptian leader….so the SEALs may not be needed….the faction of the AQ may do the work for them….

They Cry Out For Democracy!

Inkwell Institute

Middle East Desk

Soon the Prez will be making a speech, a major speech on the Middle east….but IMO it will fall on deaf ears….

The narrative in the western media is that the so-called “Arab Spring” is all about the desire of the people for democracy………and with that said I am NOT that convinced of that bold statement……I believe that we Americans would like to deceive ourselves into thinking that all protests are somehow all about the need for democracy and equality……why do I say this?…..Well Walter Lippmann said it best….”No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people.”  And illiterate I by no means want to offend….but without a working knowledge of the workings of democracy there can only be a return to tyranny……

I have pointed out that countries like Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Tunisia are good lead stories for newspapers but the people were not necessarily demanding democracy, but rather the opposition to the people in power at the time, because most have taken and held power for decades……democracy is a wonderful concept to try and sell but the truth is most of the ME lives in tribal societies and that is not that conducive to the growth of democracy….tribes depend on a strong head man to lead them and we see how that was gone badly in the past…..

The recent protests and violence in the ME have grown from the fact that most people in the countries in the news work for low wages…..there is little food……prices expand but wages do not…..and other such social problems….most people are not asking to vote on these things just that there needs to be more reforms to make life and living more better for the population…….if true democracy actually takes hold and the will of the people is paramount then the USA is screwed……why?  The West will lose its strangle hold on the policies of the region and the people will throw us out….and then what will we do?

Each one of these countries will flirt with democracy before the strong leader takes the reins again and this cycle could start all over again….and the interests of the big corporations will once again control the policies of the region….thanx to the US.

We Have A New Ambassador

Inkwell Institute

Subject:  Diplomacy/Afghanistan

Correction:  An oversight on my part has lead me to make a monumental f*ck up……parts of this post were from..http://www.kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article64331….I apologize for this to any and everyone involved….I will try to do better in the long run…..I do apologize most strongly to Matthew Nasuti for my screw up…….

I know….since OBL is dead then why would you care about what is happening in the Middle East…well, to be honest….we CANNOT ignore the region….we have many Americans dying and bleeding in this region….though many would like to put it out of their minds….we cannot….if you truly support the troops and just do not say it to sound “cool” or patriotic, then to ignore this region now would be a fatal error….

Since Obama became president our ambassador in Afghanistan has been a guy named Eikenberry….well that dude has decided to take a powder on Obama…leaving our president to find a replacement…..but first what about this guy named Eikenberry?

The best thing I can say about Karl Eikenberry is…..thinking……he has been many things but the most outstanding of these are…he has been ineffectual and invisible…I would bet you, my reader, had NO idea who was the US ambassador to Afghanistan….I know this is in NO way that damn important, huh?

True that….but……his replacement is!

The man tapped to be our new ambassador to Afghanistan is…..Ryan Crocker.  Does that name sound familiar?  It should….he was the administrator of Iraq after we crushed the Iraqi government and set about with out occupation….OK, Prof what was so bad about Crocker and his stay in Iraq?

Ryan Crocker’s tour as U.S. Ambassador in Iraq from March 2007 to March 2009, saw significant diplomatic successes, for which he should receive credit, but his failure as a manager led to a seemingly endless series of Embassy scandals, from the Blackwater mercenary scandal, to massive cost overruns on the new Embassy, to huge and wasteful Embassy overstaffing, to billions wasted on USAID development programs. This resulted in the overall failure of the civilian “surge” in Iraq. These failures were largely ignored by the mainstream media as they were overshadowed by the spectacular success of General Petraeus’ military surge.

In Iraq, Ryan Crocker seemed incapable of standing up to corrupt security contractors, an ineffective USAID, waves of politically connected Beltway Bandit consultants who were soaking up Iraqi aid funds, an abusive and careless Bureau of Diplomatic Security and a ponderous and inept State Department bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. The result was that Ambassador Crocker was directly or indirectly responsible for the largest waste of public funds in the history of the U.S. Department of State.

A wonderful record and now we get this inept diplomat as our voice in Afghanistan…..are we suppose to believe that things will be different this time around?  Does anyone remember the money on pallets in Iraq?  The money that disappeared mysteriously by the truck loads?  Come on…..this guy could not handle Iraq so how will he be any more effective in Afghanistan?  Just how much money do we pour into Afghanistan?  And one of his supporters, ie Blackwater has a presence in the country…at least he will have friends there to greet him upon his arrival…..when will we ever learn?